Voters hand GOP gubernatorial nomination to Scott Wagner

Scott Wagner, the Pennsylvania state senator running as an outside conservative reformer, has clinched the Republican nomination for governor in November.

Wagner is brash - "I am going to be the next governor, take that to the bank", he said past year - and has a penchant for off-the-cuff speaking that makes him a magnet for controversy.

Wagner beat out opponents Paul Mango and Laura Ellsworth, both from Allegheny County, following a hard-fought primary campaign that lasted for well over a year. "Wagner was even caught conspiring with House Republican leadership to kill a severance tax to hurt Governor Wolf's re-election and reports show that big oil and gas has spent over $60 million dollars on lobbying and political donations to avoid paying a commonsense severance tax".

A March poll from the American Principles Project found that Wagner led in the race against Mango.

Wagner, like Mango and Ellsworth, going all across the Commonwealth Monday, not taking any vote for granted. "Then, we're going to Johnstown and then back to Pittsburgh", said Mango.

"It's unbelievable how negative they are and what that tends to do is to drive up what we call "the negatives" of a candidate", Madonna said. "But we think we're a couple points ahead, to tell you the truth", said Mango.

Wagner has positioned himself as a garbage man set to clean up a corrupt state government that stifles the local economy with too many regulations and taxes. But back in 2014, I put everything I had into what many said was a insane, "un-winnable" write-in campaign for the state senate. "Our job now is not only to unite the rest of the Republican Party, but also to rally all Pennsylvanians behind our cause".

The Braddock mayor's victory means he will run on a ticket with Gov. Wolf in the fall.

In February, the Pennsylvania Republican Party endorsed York County State Sen.

Also in Pennsylvania, three local state lawmakers lost in their Primary races.